According to press reports, some foods can fight pain. For example, a press report suggests:

“There are many foods that are recommended for pain management based on small studies,” said Dr. Joseph Sherman, chair of pain management at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., “Bottom line, these are just small studies. … We’d like them to be a lot more evidence based.”

Sherman lists a series of foods that may help with pain: cherries, soy, oranges, peaches, asparagus, cranberries, cauliflower and kiwi, to name a few.

But these foods won’t necessarily help erase pain for those with chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia.

In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, the pain and stiffness comes from the body’s natural inflammatory response that’s gone haywire. Susan Levin, staff dietitian for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, explains that certain chemicals in fats can “fan the flames of inflammation, while others cool them down.”

So going fat-free may help avoid the inflammation. Then again, other foods may be the culprit. Levin notes that dairy, chocolate, eggs, citrus, meat, wheat, corn and nuts can exacerbate inflammation, along with beverages such as red wine, coffee, tea and sodas.

“I would recommend avoiding the common triggers completely for four weeks, then reintroduce one at a time every two days,” Levin writes in an e-mail. “Elimination diets can help pinpoint the cause of other chronic pain issues such as rheumatoid arthritis and back pain. When researchers began to suspect that foods played a role in arthritis, some eliminated the problem by putting patients on a supervised fast for several days. As it turns out, it works well. The vast majority of patients improve, and the relief is often striking.”